“Whoever has will be given more… Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
— Gospel of Matthew

Custom Selected News Feed

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates a principle he calls the “Matthew Effect”. Essentially, the idea is that when a person gets an early or extended opportunity, it leads to a multiplication of opportunity in the future. And though we can’t fully explain the idea here, the principle is profound and can teach much about best practices in social media.

Unlike Twitter or Instagram, Facebook’s News Feed is made up of posts selected by Facebook’s own algorithm, which aims “to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time.” Twitter, on the other hand, simply shows the most recent tweets in real-time.

The News Feed is created around the user experience. It gives the kind of content it thinks the user wants to see.

How does it do this? Facebook filters the posts a user sees by remembering what that user has viewed and engaged with most in the past. It’s trying to learn what content you enjoy and give you more of it.

Because there’s only so much space in the typical News Feed, Facebook prioritizes content you’re likely to engage with and hides content you’re less likely to interact with.

Rewarding Regulars

What this means practically is that if you view one business page more than another, it’s more likely you’ll see that page’s content more often. The more you interact with a page, the more frequently you’ll see its content in the future. Conversely, the less you view a page, the less likely its content will reach you.

For example, personally, I like Patagonia clothing, NBA basketball, and my local coffee shop. A lot of my posts are related to these topics. I get posts and content related to them regularly. There are many other pages I’ve “liked,” but I hardly ever see their posts. Why?

Unengaged, Out of the Picture

Because Facebook noticed when I saw certain posts and didn’t engage—no likes, comments, shares, or page visits—it made it less likely I’d see those posts again.

You may have dozens of organizations, sports teams, or retailers you’ve liked, but you never see their posts. Unless you visit their page or engage with them, that will remain the same.

It’s the same with friends. For example, if you never liked or commented on your uncle’s posts over a year, you’re unlikely to see his posts much in the future.

Facebook does that for you.

Decreasing Organic Reach Isn’t What It Seems

From a brand social media strategy perspective, Facebook organic reach is down for all business pages. That is, the ability to reach current followers in their News Feeds has decreased.

However, those still seeing your content are more likely to engage meaningfully, making them potential customers.

This is why companies should view social media as a tool for accomplishing business goals, not just gaining likes or followers.

So even though reach is smaller, it’s a blessing—you reach those who actually care. Those engaged users also influence your reach through their engagement, spreading content further organically.